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KANO, NIGERIA — Nigerian military said it has killed more than 60 extremists, including a senior commander, in aerial and ground assaults in the northeastern epicentre of insurgent violence which has raged since 2009.
Early on Friday, troops carried out two separate attacks on Boko Haram and rival Islamic State West Africa Province [ISWAP] camps, killing dozens of militants, the army said.
Dozens of Boko Haram militants were killed when troops launched raids on their camp in Bita village, outside Gwoza town in Borno state, near the border with Cameroon, the army said in a statement.
"The intense battle resulted in the neutralisation of at least 60 terrorists," the statement said on the Bita military operation.
Two intelligence sources confirmed to an AFP reporter aerial bombings of Boko Haram camps in Bita and Kareto village in Abadam district near the border with Niger on Friday.
"The 60 death toll was for the Bita operation, we still don't have details on the Kareto attack," said an intelligence source, suggesting the death toll could be higher.
Hours later, troops attacked a Boko Haram stronghold in the town of Kukawa on the shores of Lake Chad, killing a high-profile commander and his lieutenants, the army said in a separate statement.
Amir Abu Fatima, Boko Haram commander for Kukawa district, was "fatally wounded" in a gunfight with soldiers, it said.
"His deputy, several explosives experts, and multiple other terrorists were also eliminated in the confrontation."
Abu Fatima has been on the wanted list of Nigerian military which placed a 100-million-naira bounty on his head.
The attacks will be a huge morale booster for the Nigerian military, which has in recent months lost dozens of troops to the two extremist groups in raids on bases in their northern Borno strongholds.
Boko Haram and ISWAP have increasingly overrun bases where they killed troops, carted away weapons and burnt the bases.
The militants have raided more than a dozen bases in two months, according to an AFP tally.
The rebels have also intensified attacks on villages in Borno and neighbouring Adamawa and Yobe states.
Last month Babagana Umara Zulum, the Borno state governor, lamented "military setbacks" in the fight against the extremists who have entrenched themselves in Lake Chad islands, Sambisa Forest, and the Mandara mountains near the border with Cameroon.